About Me

I believed that stuff we were taught in high school back in the days before "Social Studies" supplanted history, geography and civics.
I really don't want to talk only about political things. I really want merely to be left alone to follow my own way.

Log

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

On my way home this afternoon, my XM radio was tuned to the channel where her show comes on. (4pm either Talk Radio or Americas. Sorry, not sure which)

She started out by attacking the anti healthcare-takeover people with a cute little jingle as being disingenuous . The gist was that conservatives saying "that guns and cars made our number of deaths look worse than they are" was statistical misrepresentation. Well, it is. Misrepresentation on the part of her straw man argument. It does not make the number of deaths look worse. It make the average life expectancy look worse. It actually does. The deaths to murder (by the way, murder, not accidental gun deaths as she said on her show) and auto fatalities primarily affect the young. The statistical distortion that causes does occur does force the average life expectancy in this country to the down side. There is no honest way of avoiding that. Public health care will not cure either of those problems.

The real problem is that 50% of our population is of below average intelligence.

Saturday, September 26, 2009

These two terms describe conditions in the futures markets. Contango is the normal condition in which things will cost more in the future than now. It is normal because it includes the costs of storage of the real commodity, and the money value of lost interest realized by paying now instead of later. And increasingly in our society the probable effect of inflation of the currency.

Backwardation on the other hand is a bellwether of things to come. If a precious metal like say silver was trading at $16/oz for immediate delivery and trading at $14/oz six months out, the prudent thing to do would appear to be sell your silver now and re-buy it now for delivery in a half year, pocket the $2000 or $20,000 stick it in a CD drawing interest,and retrieve your silver in six months avoiding the storage fees. But it doesn't happen. Or rather it doesn't happen until the difference is sufficient. Why? Because of the risk that you will not be able to retrieve your purchase, and the risk that the money you have drawn off your transaction will have inflated (read devalued) to a greater extent than your gain.

Friday, September 25, 2009

The mainstream media and even Fox, even Bloggers like Little Green Footballs get very uptight at calling what is happening a precursor to Nazism. Even using the term Fascist raises their hackles ( whatever a hackle is). But you have to wonder what people thought in the mid-thirties.

I'll start with Fascism. Aside from the hypocrisy of forgetting that the term has been thrown as an epithet at conservatives and libertarians for decades, Incorrectly it turns out. Because conservatives and especially libertarians are anti-statist. They are against strong central government. Fascism is a system of government with private ownership of the means of production with government control of that production. It is a very straightforward definition, and one that truly describes the changes in this country in the last nine months. If anything, we have overshot fascism a little towards communism, the state owning the means of production - right, GM?

But Nazism? Perhaps that is a stretch. After all, this isn't national socialism or nationalism, this is international socialism. Or is it? There is something else. Something that makes one involuntarily think of Germany prior to the Second World War. There is the cult of personality. Barack Obama is not just President of the United States of America. This week he is presiding at the United Nations Security Council. This week he is also pontificating at the global economic summit, the G-20, in Pittsburgh. He is President of the World, maybe even President of the Universe. Small children singhis praises the same way they did for Hitler. His nomination/investment/coronation/anointment in Denver last Summer look for all the world like it was designed by Leni Riefenstahl or Albert Speer. The only thing missing now is the repeal of the 22nd amendment. Oh, wait, what about Representative Jose Serrano's (D - NY 16th District) bill H. J. Res 5? A 2/3 majority of the Senate and it is the law of the land. Obama, President for Life, like his buddies Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez, and Kim Jong Il. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who still has to be elected, rigged-or-not, would envy him. It could never happen here. Isn't that what moderate Germans said in the thirties? Do you suppose the ones that tried to warn the others about the cult of Hitler were belittled and mocked?Our Founding Fathers feared just this particular kind of Presidency.

At the G-20 meeting in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania there are protesters rioting in the streets, again. There is a certain sweet irony this time. They are protesting a summit at which the left's beloved President Barak Hussein Obama is the star. And there is another irony. These people are reputed to be anarchists. At the very least, they are non-conformists. They are carrying signs that say "No Bailout" and "No Capitalism". And yet, President Obama is the most anti-capitalist president ever. What more do they want?

Their beloved President is the most authoritarian President ever, in the process of remaking a government into a totalitarian police state. It will be a world in which you can be denied health and wealth , and even life should the powers that be wish it. It will be a world that will tolerate no dissent. Not just the violent demonstrations as in Pittsburgh, but a world where even broadcast, blogged, spoken or written dissent will not be tolerated.

This speech, the one the President made at the G-20 meeting in Pittsburgh - SSDD - Same Stuff Different Day. But did anyone else notice that it was made between five PM and six PM Eastern Time, right over top of the Glenn Beck show? Does anyone suppose that it was merely a coincidence? And why in the world did Fox Network preempt the Glenn Beck special to play it? It was no different than any of his others. No sixth graders will memorize this one.

And one last question - Am I the only one who notices the number of times President Obama uses the word "I" as the start of his sentences. In the seventh grade, Mr. Brabson taught me to vary my sentence structure and not start every sentence with "I". For reference,the word I does not appear in the Gettysburg Address, not even once.

Saturday, September 19, 2009

On my way to Washington last Saturday, Interstate 95 locked up solid as far back as the Beltway. Using my trusty GPS, I got off and took the surface streets. It gave me a different view of Washington and maybe the world. At first it was the usual suburban housing, but the closer-and-closer I got,

the more dense it became, until finally it was dense high-rise apartments that reminded me of nothing so much as pigeon coops or a bee hive. People who live like this are trying to tell people who live in Georgia, Colorado, and Wyoming what life is like and how it is to be lived. It is no wonder that they do not understand why we need our vehicles, our guns, the fruits of our labor, and the means to take care of ourselves. Similarly, we do not understand their needs to subvert the self to co-exist in so dense a population. We really are two different Americas.But truly, do we really need to send more than half our wealth to these people? And how long would they survive if we out here in the physical world shrugged?

Thursday, September 17, 2009

But the newspaper says something different. This is the Gwinnett County, Georgia's local newspaper's current monthly legal paper-of-record posting. This month the paper is one hundred sixty-eight pages of nine columns each. Pages one through seven are the usual legal fare, divorces, name changes, applications for liquor licenses, probate. Page eight is tax sales. And page nine through one hundred sixty-eight? All foreclosures. Don't even expect me to count how many foreclosures are on 28,800 column inches. I think we got trouble.

Obama supporters , if you want Socialism or Communism, go to a country that has it. Don't force us to change to your desires. There are plenty of countries you can choose from. This is where the people from those countries come to when they vote with their feet.

Each and every day I work with people from Cuba, Romania, Vietnam, the duchies of the former Yugoslavia, and the Ukraine. They are more adamant than I that this is becoming what they escaped from, and they don't want to move again.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

1015 actually. The press is so excited! The silver I bought for $14.50 premium (commission) included closed today at $17.41 spot. I am not excited, I am worried. Why? Why am I not happy?

Gold and silver are not investments. They could be, but they aren't at this time. What they are is stores of value. An ounce of Gold will always be worth ... an ounce of Gold. An ounce of Silver will always be an ounce of Silver, no more, no less. Not so for that Federal Reserve Note¹ you are carrying in your pocket.

So why aren't I happy? Because not all of my money is secure in tangible assets. And a gain in Silver or Gold is more than offset by the loss in my savings, my salary, and ultimately, my pension.

No, Jimmy, race has nothing to do with it. I didn't like it when you ran inflation up to the skies in the seventies either. When it comes to stealing away my past, present , and future wealth and the portion of my life that it represents, I don't care who you are. I don't care what color you are. I don't even care what party you represent. Stop spending my money on your whims. Stop spending my children's future on your grand ideas. Stop using the fruits of my labor to buy your re-election.

By the way, Jimmy - I don't expect you would remember me, but we met once, in your living room in Plains, back before you were President. I was part of a TV interview crew. Even though at that time I was not yet a libertarian and was excited to be in the presence of the man who would probably be the Democrat Party candidate, I came away with the impression at that time that you were in a different reality than I was. This was one of my seminal moments. It changed how I voted that year and maybe forever after to some extent. I listen to you now, and I find you are still in a different world that those of us who get up every morning, go to work and try to make enough to pay out bills, pay our taxes and live as well as those who don't. Racism has nothing to do with my concern for the health and wealth of my family. But you wouldn't know that, you live behind a Secret Service checkpoint in a literal different world.

We just had a massive lightning strike in a massive thunderstorm. I do not know if the local stations are all off the air, or just the signal being absorbed by the rain. The cable is out and I can only receive one set of stations, those of channel 34 - all Mexican! Welcome to the America of the future.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

I have just completed something of a four-day race. I drove by myself for the equivalent of four work days (with some overtime) to spend four hours with a group of people who were present for the some of the most humiliating times of my life. It filled two needs. The need to be alone for a while and the need to chart how much they, and perforce I, were the same and how much we had changed with time and life. I have been several times before, the thirtieth that almost didn't happen, and the fortieth when I discovered my cancer.

The need to be alone was met too. On the way up I stopped and photographed at places I had never taken the time to see in my mad dashes home.

And on the way back I listened again to my favorite talking book. I have read this book about four times and listened to it at least six times now over the years; and every time, I am sorry to have it end. This time the book ended exactly as I pulled up to my driveway at 4:02 in the morning. The book is Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. It gets better every time I read it or listen to it. It made the trip fly. It was written so long ago and it is truly amazing how prescient she was.

Now I find myself wondering as I look at the likes of Obama, Geithner, Barney Franks, and the rest ... Which one is Wesley Mouch, which one Chick Morrison, Bertram Scudder, Cuffey Meigs, and Tinky Holloway?

Monday, September 14, 2009

Saturday I had someplace I had to be. There will be other marches and our little group is getting smaller every time. I even discovered my Cancer after the last one. But I had to at least put in an appearance at the march, especially since Washington is directly on my way between Atlanta and Philadelphia. I could have taken the beltway around the city. But no, I went directly into it right up Constitution Avenue to where it intersects Pennsylvania Avenue where I was blocked by the marchers going down Pennsylvania. I left my car in the middle of Constitution, got out and joined the march for a minute or two, got back into my truck, made a hasty u-turn, crossed the mall and headed on to Pennsylvania to keep an appointment I made 45 years ago.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Every [otherwise sane] person I speak to about the coming health-care takeover who is still in favor of it comes down to the same argument - someone [they are related to] has a pre-existing medical condition (generally diabetes, but not always) and cannot get affordable [read as cheap] insurance.

Skipping for a moment the observation that after an accident is not when you would buy car insurance, and presume that there is some kind of societal need to provide for diabetics. What obligation would we have? The need for catastrophic treatment? Heart failure. Reasonable, but every hospital will not turn you away and will treat that without insurance now. Kidney failure and dialysis? Seems like a reasonable request. Very expensive and labor intensive on the part of medical personnel. Insulin? What responsibility do people have in there own care and life? None????

But more important, if our biggest need is to cover people whose care is more than any reasonable person can afford to care for, why is it necessary to destroy everyone else's health care system to allow for the coverage of these people? And especially, why is it necessary to destroy a healthcare system that at least 82% of the population is happy with - to enable coverage of the other uninsureds, people who have better things to do with their money instead of buying insurance. Things like buying a 52" flat screen TV and a high-end new car? And why are we covering people who are not even supposed to be in this country anyway? (especially if their country is one of those model countries whose health care system is so wonderful - send them home for treatment)As a society, we can see the need to cover the old and very young. Perhaps covering or subsidizing diabetics, catastrophic diseases and the like might be justifiable, but at what cost to the rest of us? Our own health?

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

If there was ever any doubt that our freedom in our country is being ended,let it be quenched now.Annual tax and registration of alllegalfirearms every year in your IRS form 1040.

Have you heard it on CNN? MSNBC? NBC? CBS or ABC? Not even on FOX! Only available on this obscure little place called Thomas.gov. Thomas.gov is the official record and tracking of all pending legislation of the US Federal Government. This is the internal word of the government.

The Bill of Rights is supposed to be a limitation on the government's intrusion into the rights of man.We now have a government that laughs in the face of the Bill of Rights.